Webinar Series Notes on Dyslexia Assessment and Interventions

Overview of the Webinar Series

• Purpose: To familiarize school districts with guidance from the New Jersey Dyslexia Handbook regarding early literacy and reading struggles.
• Structure: Four-part series aimed at helping district-based teams improve educational programming decisions.
• Implementation Tool: Districts can use the series to build a preventive model for screening and tiered intervention for reading struggles.

Diagnostic and Comprehensive Assessment

• Assessment Functions:
• Different types of assessments used: screening, benchmark, progress monitoring, diagnostic, summative.
• Each type informs instructional decision-making.
• Universal Screening:
• Conducted at least three times a year.
• Identifies students performing adequately vs. those at risk for reading failure.
• At-risk students should be placed into structured literacy interventions promptly.

Importance of Comprehensive Assessment

• Purpose: To identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Collaboration: Involves classroom teachers, reading specialists, IEP case coordinators, intervention specialists, and NJTSS team members.
• Data Collection: Use multiple measures from previous assessments to inform tailored instructional plans.

Key Areas of Language and Literacy Assessed

1. Oral Language:

• Involves listening comprehension and verbal expression.
• Gather data through observations, vocabulary usage comparisons (oral vs. written), and standardized tools.
• Dyslexia indicators may include strong higher-level skills but weak low-level skills.

1. Phonological Awareness:

• Skills include recognizing words, syllables, and phonemes.
• Importance of assessment through phoneme segmentation and tasks like non-word repetition.
• Indicators of dyslexia: deficiencies in phonological awareness and memory, affecting spelling and decoding.

1. Word Recognition and Decoding:

• Ability to read single words and use phonetics for decoding.
• Screening assessments include nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency.
• Importance of assessing decoding accuracy and automaticity, particularly for phonetically irregular words.

1. Reading Fluency:

• Defined as accurate reading at an appropriate rate with expression for comprehension.
• Measures include comparing reading rates against grade-level norms.
• Effects of dyslexia on fluency: slow and inaccurate reading.

1. Reading Comprehension:

• Differentiates between what the student can understand through hearing vs. reading independently.
• Instruments might include retelling tasks and curriculum-based assessments.
• Lower scores in reading comprehension often reflect difficulties in decoding and connections within text.

1. Written Expression:

• Involves encoding (spelling), structure, vocabulary, and composition quality.
• Assessment of writing samples includes analyzing handwriting and mechanics.
• Refer to occupational therapists for significant writing difficulties.

Response to Interventions (RTI) and Special Education

• Tiered Instruction: Tailoring interventions based on individual student assessments.
• Child Study Team Evaluation:
• Comprehensive assessment of reading problems and potential dyslexia indicators.
• Review of past screening, progress monitoring, developmental milestones, and family literacy background.

Roles of Child Study Team Members

• LDT Consultant: Knowledge of language structure and reading acquisition for effective interventions.
• Social Workers: Assess familial and emotional factors impacting literacy progress.
• Speech-Language Pathologists: Focus on connection between spoken and written language skills.
• School Psychologists: Identify cognitive factors affecting reading skills and improve educational recommendations.

Final Thoughts and Resources

• Collaboration is crucial for early identification of dyslexia and promoting literacy in general education settings.
• Evaluation Outcomes: Should guide tailored instructional and remedial services based on identified skill deficits.
• Next Steps: Conduct an inventory of tools for assessing dyslexia, targeting K-3 screening processes, and monitoring progress.
• Additional Resources: Visit the New Jersey Department of Education website for more guidance and support materials for dyslexia education and interventions.